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Reflecting and Preparing

September 28, 2015 By Mrs. Mom 4 Comments

Have you ever had a situation in life that you did not want to deal with?

Maybe you felt like you could just wait it out and time would bring a solution…

Let me be the first to say that I know that feeling.

I’ve dealt with somethings in the past few years that I, honestly, considered burying deep within my heart and a secret treasure box somewhere.

Yet, I found that the more I considered not dealing with it, the more it changed me.

Now this wasn’t a single occurrence. It was something that happened a few different times in various situations. As it happened, I kept wondering how I was supposed to handle the problem.

What I found was that I had to deal with it. I had to take the time to allow myself to feel the emotions. Those feelings became the beginning of my process.

From there, I had to talk with someone I trusted. This was someone who I knew would not only listen, but also pray for me and encourage me along the way. I had to begin to reflect on my life so that I could grow and change.

Reflecting

Reflecting, not simply on the occurrences of the past, but also on the situations that had transpired within me. I had to bring myself to a place where I knew how the things that were said and done affected me.

This process of reflecting was not an easy one. There were times, during reflection, where I wanted to avoid the pain of remembering what happened. For the memories seemed to harvest the feeling that caused me such great pain.

Although I did not want to go through the process, I knew that I would have such great freedom after I did.

Cast your cares on God, for he cares for you. ~1 Peter 5:7

One of the reasons why reflecting and self-reflection are so important is that you cannot cast upon God, what you do not know exists.

See, when we give our concerns, fears, anxieties, heartaches, and heartbreak to God, He will take care of them. However, when we do not know or refuse to identify the cares that are driving us crazy, we also choose to hold on to the cares. We decide that we are more powerful alone and don’t need God to solve the problem.

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. ~Psalm 55:22

If you can see this clearly, reflecting is a tool of freedom. Without it, we are unable to see primary aspects of ourselves, needed for liberty. Without seeing those areas, we cannot submit our selves to God so that He can free us. Our hearts have to go through the reflection process in order to begin preparing for what is next.

Preparing

After reflecting on the situation and coming to terms with the emotions, thoughts, and feelings that have been experienced, it is imperative that we begin to prepare ourselves for freedom.

Freedom is a choice.

That statement is the first one that we must accept as we prepare ourselves for liberty. See, we can each choose to be prideful, stubborn, hard-hearted, impatient, and fearful. No one will stop us from feeling this way.

Honestly, it is our right to feel anyway that we desire.

However, if I am to move forward on my journey of healing and freedom, I must choose to be humble, tender-hearted, patient, willing, and full of courage. You have to make the same choice if you want freedom.

Freedom will also require us to forgive others. Although it is very hard, each of these choices will unlock the door to our future and prepare us to walk in the place God calls us to.

Now I started this conversation with you by asking if you had ever found yourself in a situation that you didn’t want to deal with. My question for you now is, do you think you are a little better equipped to deal with it, after reading this?

I hope your answer is yes.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope you found it helpful.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Please share them with me in the comments section.

Why Encourage Other People?

March 31, 2015 By Mrs. Mom Leave a Comment

As people we are all boggled down with life. We get so busy doing the things that we think are necessary and required. When we are not doing the necessary and required, we begin to do what we desire. Sometimes we fail to realize or just forget that we live in a community of people that need us…and we need them.

Whether we are thinking about our home, family, friends, neighbors, church, online community, or even, dare I say, the world…we all need each other. When individuals spend too much time alone, they begin to experience thoughts that may not be conducive to their “best” life. In the Bible, this loneliness or not having encouragement, led to a disbelief because people started to question the faith that they once had in God.(Hebrews 3) This is the reason why God tells us to exhort one another.

We have to be there, available, ready, and willing to encourage our brothers and sisters in the faith. We have no idea the struggles that they are going through and no one has any idea what we are going through as well. But God…

He is more that aware of our present condition and yes, He does and will encourage us, but He also gave us one another. We are a family and he wants us to help each other in our weakness.

If you are losing hope…don’t. Period…
God says in His word that no one who trust in and puts their hope in Him will ever be put to shame. (Romans 10:11)

If you feel like things are impossible…stop. Period…
God says in His word that with Him all things are possible.(Matthew 19:26)

If you feel like you have to give in to sin and temptation…don’t feel that way. And run!!! Period.
God says in His word that although sin comes to our house and knocked on the door, it crouches and waits, we have power over that sin…to overcome it. (Genesis 4:7, James 4:7)

If you feel that the cares in your life are just too much to bare and God doesn’t even care…like a car coming to a screeching holt, I say…DO NOT FEEL THAT WAY. Period…
God tells us in His word that he cares for us. In fact he wants us to thrust our cares upon Him because He cares. That’s right! He cares about everything that we care about. (1 Peter 5:7)

I am suggesting that you can just stop all of the things that I mentioned above. We have to take control of our emotions and cast vain thoughts out of our minds and vain imaginations off of us. (2 Corinthians 10:5) We have to tell ourselves (sometimes speaking out loud) that the thoughts and feelings that attempt to settle in us that are contrary to what God says and who He is, are all vain. Therefore, there is no need to hold on to them. We have to verbally cast them off!

Do you see how this works? I am encouraging you. Somehow, in encouraging you, I too, feel myself being encouraged. Why? Because we are the body of Christ and we need to build one another up so that or body can be strong. We are more connected that you know.

If one of us veers off to the left or the right, there are ravenous wolves waiting to devour…these are seen and unseen. Our thoughts and feelings are used as catalysts and springboards to set our hearts in motion away from or towards God.

So today lets stir one another up. Let’s encourage one another in the faith. Let’s encourage one another in relationships, work, hobbies, and life. God has empowered us to do it.

Someone might give up and turn away because we didn’t encourage him or her. That’s what the Bible says.

Be uniquely you, have no fear, and encourage someone else. You never know what a smile and a good word will do.